Carpal tunnel syndrome is a painful condition of the wrist and fingers usually experienced by workers who perform jobs requiring frequent, repetitive use of the hands and wrists. Medically, the condition is believed to derive from compression of the median nerve passing through the carpal canal. Carpal tunnel syndrome is characterized by pain and paresthesia in the sensory distribution of the median nerve in the hand. Symptoms include numbness, tingling, and painful burning of the fingers which can radiate up the forearm to the shoulder.
Recent studies have shown that some workers are more prone to develop carpal tunnel syndrome than others. These studies have linked the shape of a person's wrist to his/her proclivity to develop carpal tunnel syndrome. In particular, it has been determined that the more square the shape of the wrist, the higher the susceptibility to carpal tunnel syndrome. In general, the average person has a wrist in which the ratio of thickness to width is in the range of 0.55 to 0.6. Persons with more square wrists, i.e., those having thickness to width ratios of 0.7 or larger, are more likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome. If such susceptible workers can be identified, alternatives can be developed to minimize the risk to those workers. It is therefore desirable to provide an apparatus for easily identifying workers having wrist configurations with a proclivity for carpal tunnel syndrome.